“King the Land” records low IMDb score due to Arab culture distortion and boring story controversies

Facing a backlash from Arab viewers, “King the Land” continues to get shunned by global audiences for lack of new developments.

According to IMDb, a global movie/drama information site, on July 15th, “King the Land” gets a low rating of 1.9/10. It was actually 2.2 on the 11th but already dropped to below 2.0 within the past 4 days.

Earlier, “King the Land” was harshly criticized for distorting Arab culture. 

Episodes 7 and 8 of “King the Land”, which aired on July 8th – 9th, depicted the story of Arab prince Samir (Anupam Tripathi). The scenes where Samir enjoys drinking alcohol with women at a club and becomes Goo Won (Lee Joon Ho)’s rival by flirting with Cheon Sa Rang (Im Yoon Ah) sparked controversy over cultural distortions.

Pointing out the fact that the Arab character was played by an Indian actor and that Samir was portrayed as a playboy although Muslims are banned from drinking alcohol, overseas viewers demanded a formal apology from the production team. 

Belatedly recognizing the seriousness of the situation, JTBC issued an apology through My Daily on the 13th, saying “We have quickly edited and reuploaded the videos by deleting the club scenes”, adding “The revised version has been uploaded on our website, and we will also use this version for the rerun”.

They added, “Viewers will be able to watch the edited version on domestic platforms, and we will continue to consult with overseas platforms to modify the episodes.” The production team even tried to communicate with Arab viewers by uploading the apology in Arabic.

Apart from the Arab culture distortion controversy, “King the Land” is also receiving negative reviews for boring storytelling.

A foreign netizen commented on IMDb, saying “It’s 2023 and I can’t believe I’m hearing such a story, like a King on Earth”, adding “This drama lacks new developments and elements that can excite viewers”. 

Another netizen said, “The story lacks creativity. It’s the worst drama I’ve ever watched. What a waste of time. They tried to add funny memes to entertain viewers but they are so awkward. It was too awkward that I felt like crying instead of laughing.” 

Meanwhile, “King the Land” tells about the romance between Goo Won, who hates fake smiles, and hotelier Cheon Sa Rang, who must always smile.

Source: Daum